How much material is required to cover the standard NBA basketball?

Question

asked Jan 18, 2023 61.2k views

1 Answer

Molly Harper · Answer 1 · 2023-01-22T18:07:10+0000

HGiven that the diameter of a standard NBA basketball is:

$d=9.5\text{ }in$

You need to use the formula for calculating the surface area of a sphere, in order to find the surface area of a standard NBA basketball:

$SA=4\pi r^2$

Where "r" is the radius of the sphere.

By definition, the radius is half the diameter. Therefore, in this case:

$r=\frac{9.5\text{ }in}{2}=4.75\text{ }in$

Therefore, by substituting the value of "r" into the formula and evaluating, you get:

$SA=4\pi(4.75\text{ }in)^2\approx283.5\text{ }in^2$

Hence, the answer is: First option.